The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.

BUSS

/bʌs/4 letters

Definition of BUSS

noun

A kiss.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

Uncertain. First attested in the 1560s. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰus- (“lip, to kiss”) via Proto-Germanic *busaną (compare German bussen), but in any case imitative of kissing. Compare Welsh bus (“kiss, lip”) and Irish bus (“lips, mouth”) (both may have influenced English), Persian بوس (bus, “kiss”), Latvian buča (“kiss”), Latin basium (“kiss”). Mainstream proposals like in The Free Dictionary have suggested it is a blend of old English dialect words bass (related to French baiser) and cuss (akin to kissen); perhaps compare puss.

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

Rarity score
Withheld
Revealed only in play
Tier
Withheld
Find it yourself

OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.

BUSS in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 2 boards so far.

Day 1Day 120
Its 2 boards, across 120 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
2
Boards found on
76
First board
118
Latest board
42
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 76, 4 August 2026. The most recent board was Day 118, 15 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.

First ever to find it

verdaille

on Day 76, 4 August 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers

Built from these letters

BUSS
4
Letters
1
Vowels
3
Consonants
3
Different letters
2
Longest consonant run
1
Longest vowel run

BUSS starts with B and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read BSSU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. S appears more than once, including a double letter.

Same letters, different word

One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.

Words that start BUSS

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

BUSSUBUSSEDBUSSESBUSSUSBUSSINGBUSSINGS

Could you have found BUSS?

OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 76 - and most players walked straight past it.

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